The Risk of Employee Sabotage

A rogue employee has the ability to inflict damage on the physical and digital infrastructure of a company, as well as compromise a company’s reputation, the health and safety of fellow employees, productivity, and customer relations. A former network administrator at Gucci was recently charged with causing upwards of $200,000 worth of damage by sabotaging the company’s network, including deleting files, blocking access to email, and deleting sensitive data, leading to twenty-four (24) hours of network downtime and thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

Pre-employment screening is a useful tool in gauging an applicant’s aptitude, ability and employment history, as well as potentially inappropriate workplace behaviour within past work environments. BackCheck’s qualified reference interviewers ask past employers questions related to an applicant’s reason for leaving, their trustworthiness and honesty, temperament, composure, interpersonal skills, and response to constructive criticism, among other relevant areas of interest. A flag in any one of these areas may indicate personal and professional liability in the work history of a potential applicant.

Organizations that have been victimized by internal sabotage do not often discuss the matter publicly, fearing negative media attention and possible further sabotage. The unspoken impact of such actions may include an inability to conduct business due to network down time, loss of customer information, an inability to produce products, web site defacement, and exposure of confidential customer and employee data. A thorough pre-employment screening program, including credit checks to reveal a potential employee’s financial standing, criminal record checks, and reference interviews can help companies reduce the risk of internal sabotage by only hiring trustworthy candidates with clear financial and criminal histories. BackCheck offers a comprehensive pre-employment screening package to facilitate diligent and secure hiring practices.